According to the recently released data from Brand Finance, our country’s brands are experiencing a moment of great growth.
Gucci confirms itself the most valuable Italian brand, valued at 17 billion Euros with an increase of 10% compared to the previous year. Among the other best-valued Italian brands we can find Lamborghini, which recorded a 149% increase in value, reaching 4.1 billion Euros, and Prada, which saw its value grow by 50%, reaching 4.6 billion of Euro.
Ferrari confirms itself as the strongest Italian brand, i.e. with the greatest ability to influence the choices of stakeholders. Ferrari holds this record – as expected – also in the automotive sector and, thanks to a 3% growth, it has reached a value of 7.2 billion Euros.
Strong growth for Dolce & Gabbana (+57%), Fendi (+33%), Moncler (+33%), Ray-Ban (29%) and Bottega Veneta (+27%), all brands whose value also increased compared to the average of luxury brands in other countries, which increased by an average of 21%. Among the brands that have grown the most in the last year we can fing Intesa (+33%), Poste (+28%), Conad (+29%), Ray-Ban (+29%) and Tim (+25%). In particular, the rapid rise of the Intesa brand, as well as that of Bper (+43%), is mainly due to the finalization of the acquisition of Ubi.
However, despite these excellent results, the absolute value of Italian brands remains relatively low compared to brands from other countries, such as France and the United Kingdom. This is mainly due to the small to medium size of Italian companies. For example, if Italian marks are worth almost double those of Spain, they are worth half or less than half of those of the United Kingdom and France, and less than a third of those of Germany.
According to Brand Finance, «to increase turnover and margins, Italian companies should try to increase the monetary value of brands by strengthening the level of rational and emotional attractiveness: on the one hand they should further improve the quality and quantity of investments relating to the product, promotion, distribution and price; on the other, identifying and investing in a social purpose that goes beyond profit and is not limited to over-inflated environmental sustainability in order to better engage key stakeholders».
The evaluation of Italian brands is not only important from an economic point of view. In fact, the level of attractiveness of commercial brands is also influenced by the national brand and viceversa. On the one hand, a good image and reputation of an Italian brand can help improve Italy’s image internationally. On the other hand, the prestige and reputation of Italy as a country can reflect positively on Italian brands, increasing their credibility and appeal to consumers.
The Italy brand has strengthened year on year, after the collapse of 2021 which brought Italy to 19th place, following the perception of mismanagement of Covid. In 2022, in fact, Italy rose to tenth place, and this year reached the ninth place in the Global Soft Power Index of Brand Finance, the ranking of countries with the greatest ability to influence the choices of other nations without any military or economic coercion.
Italy’s good performance is above all due to the great knowledge of our nation among the world’s population, its good reputation and the perception of its significant influence over the population and governments of other countries.
Brand Finance concludes: «Italy is very strong in areas where other countries will hardly be able to improve significantly, such as historical and cultural heritage, population and values, while it still has considerable room for growth in areas such as governance, education and science, fields in which it is more plausible to progress. To strengthen the image and reputation of the Italian brand and therefore support economic growth, it is essential to develop a single branding strategy for the country, similar to that conducted by the United Kingdom, with a strong focus also on direct communication to Italians, the main detractors of the Italy brand».